Los Angeles history

Pepe Arciga

July 1, 2007 | 4:05
pm

July 1, 1957

In the midst of clapping castanets, kicking
heels and flying Spanish skirts during a whirlwind visit to La
Golondrina one night last week, I asked a question of Mexico's attorney
general, Lic. Jose Aguilar y Maya.

"Senor Procurador, in view of
Mexico's aggressive road-building program, do you think there's a
possibility of your government enacting legislation which would exclude
visiting Americans from landing in jail if involved in automobile
collisions?"

The attorney general, native of the romantic city
of Guanajuato and certainly one of Mexico's ablest men of law, did not
answer that one right away.

He adjusted his glasses and, in the
semi-darkness, I could see that here was a man whose face indicated
kindness and understanding. Also, it seemed, here was a man who could
walk out of a spot, smilingly, and with no effort at all.

"Don
Pepe Arciga," he said after one swallow of his drink, "as you know,
Mexico is undergoing right now the greatest expansion program of its
history.

"Many things are happening today to the country.
Progress is outdistancing everything, everything, including many facets
of federal and state legislations.

"In some areas of Mexico,
traffic laws receive from authorities certain interpretations. In other
areas, traffic laws also differ."

And just as I began to relate
an incident in which two Angelenos and personal friends of mine--Arturo
and Juanita Castro--were forced to pay exorbitant fines plus damages,
plus medical fees after HAVING BEEN HIT broadside at an intersection
in Guadalajara by a man driving a military jeep, Senor Jose Aguilar y
Maya broke in:

"Indeed, these are unfortunate incidents. I will
make every personal effort, upon my return, to explain to the proper
authorities the need for corrective measures."

Within minutes, the distinguished visitor and his party of friends got up and left.